Microsoft can’t beat Google with two hands and a map

I find mapping one of the iPhone’s most indispensable features, if for no other reason than I rarely have any idea exactly where I am at any given time. While Google’s Maps application is the most prominent way to get that information, it’s not the only one. Microsoft’s newest version of Live Maps is finally Safari-compatible on both the Mac and the iPhone.

I’ve been a diehard Google Maps user for some time, but I decided to give Live Maps a quick try just to see what I’d been missing out on. On the Mac side, I admit it’s got some nice features (I dig the Bird’s Eye view), and even though it told me that I actually lived in the house next door (I never knew!), it’s mapping features seem pretty good. The much-touted 3D view does not currently work on Safari, though.

On the iPhone, it’s a different matter. This isn’t entirely Microsoft’s fault: it’s hard to compete with the native implementation of Google’s maps. But we know it’s possible to have a good web app experience on the iPhone, and Microsoft doesn’t really seem interested in doing that at all.

Take, for example, the zooming controls, which are on the left side of the map. Like most maps, when you hit the “Zoom In” control, it zooms on the center. The problem is that the map isn’t sized for the iPhone’s screen, and it’s only really usable in landscape orientation. Even then, you need to get the map to a size where it’s both a) easily visible and b) the controls are large enough that you can tap them precisely. That’s already asking me to do a lot more finagling than I should have to.

And with no pinch-zooming and swiping to move the map around, it’s impossible for MS to compete with the simplicity of Google’s Maps application. Perhaps when App Store opens, Microsoft will be able to build a better Map widget, as it were, but until then, things are looking in Google’s direction.

[via Infinite Loop]

Category: Musings

Posted by Dan Moren on Apr 17 2008, 3:31 PM ET

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